Chapter 42 The Iron Tree Spirit Subdues the Demonic Plant with Ease
Lin Nanxing didn't have time to think. He grabbed the bone stick by the bed and rushed barefoot toward the door.
"Bang!"
The moment the door opened, her forehead slammed into a wall of people.
Shu Yi remained in the position of raising his hand to knock on the door, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes.
Lin Nanxing's eyes lit up when he saw him. This guy in front of him was a level 65 expert. What was a level 51 magical plant compared to him?
Ignoring the throbbing pain in his forehead, Lin Nanxing grabbed Shu Yi's arm and rushed out, "Come with me, something's happened in the territory."
Shu Yi had come to check after hearing the noise next door, worried that something might have happened, but before he could even speak, he was pulled downstairs.
When the two rushed to the location indicated by the system, the scene before them made Lin Nanxing gasp in shock.
The carnivorous plant lay limp on the ground, its petals edged with charred marks, looking utterly exhausted.
The banyan tree, which is usually presented as a landscape bonsai, now fully reveals its true form. It is an ancient banyan tree that blocks out the sky, with its gnarled branches spread out and every leaf taut.
Outside the barrier, a strange, jet-black plant was wildly waving its branches. Perhaps out of fear of the terrifying plant's oppressive aura, no monsters appeared in the vicinity.
Lin Nanxing's control panel displayed a message.
[Name: Iron Tree Spirit]
[Level: Lv.51]
[Emotion: Jealousy]
"Hmm...jealousy?" The plant's emotions were too strange, and Lin Nanxing subconsciously uttered the words.
Shu Yi's bow and arrow were already poised to fire. Looking at the calm scene before him, he did not let his guard down. Lin Nanxing's words suddenly rang out, and he looked at her with a puzzled gaze.
Lin Nanxing didn't notice Shu Yi's actions. Her gaze swept over the two equally tall demonic plants, and suddenly a flash of inspiration struck her.
Although the iron tree's menacing branches were bared and clawed, they never actually attacked the barrier; instead, they were all pointed in the direction of the banyan tree.
Under the moonlight, two towering trees stand facing each other across the distance, one lush and vibrant with life, the other withered and twisted, covered in sharp thorns.
"I understand." Lin Nanxing suddenly grabbed Shu Yi's wrist. The warmth from her fingertips made Shu Yi pause slightly. Her eyes lit up unusually. "This demonic plant is an iron tree. It seems to be jealous of the banyan tree's appearance!"
Shu Yi was stunned upon hearing this, and loosened the bowstring slightly.
The cycads he remembered were clearly common landscape plants in parks, with gray-green leaves that spread out in a feathery pattern, unlike the monster in front of him that was completely black and had twisted branches.
If Lin Nanxing hadn't been so certain, he would never have connected the two.
As Lin Nanxing gazed at the menacing iron tree spirit outside the barrier, the image of the iron tree before the apocalypse flashed through her mind. In her eyes, it looked like an enlarged version of a pineapple.
She was curious whether if she let the magical plant drink its fill of water, it could be restored to the way she remembered it.
With a plan in mind, Lin Nanxing became much more composed. Taking advantage of the standoff between the two sides and the temporary absence of conflict, she skillfully ran to the water park, filled a large basin with clean water, and neatly placed it at the edge of the barrier.
The banyan tree understood her meaning and tacitly extended its branches to steadily lift the water basin out of the barrier.
Before the branches had fully retracted, the iron tree spirit eagerly pounced on the water basin, making a 'glug glug' sound.
This guy drinks water in a completely different way than Da Rong.
The banyan tree always gracefully extends its branches, slowly and methodically drawing water like using a straw, while the cycad spirit, like a muscular man who has been starving for ten years, immerses its entire trunk in water.
In order to fit into the not-so-large water basin, it even shrunk its size, turning from a towering giant into a small tree less than two meters tall in the blink of an eye.
As the massive shadow of the tree disappeared, the oppressive feeling also dissipated.
Lin Nanxing crouched down and carefully observed the iron tree spirit outside the barrier, only to find that its bark was still as black as iron, without any change, and still frightening.
She sighed inwardly, but still tentatively asked, "When the banyan tree spirit and the man-eating flower first arrived, they were about the same as you are now."
The water rippled slightly, and the iron tree spirit seemed to pause its drinking motion.
Lin Nanxing pressed her advantage, her voice soft yet strangely alluring, "You've seen what they look like now. I have an endless supply of water here. How about it, why not consider becoming my contracted magical plants?"
[The Iron Tree Spirit requests to become your summoned creature. Do you agree?]
As expected, Lin Nanxing's guess was correct.
Although demonic plants are terrifying, water is their fatal weakness. As long as the right medicine is used, they are much easier to deal with than demons.
Congratulations to the player for successfully taming the Iron Tree Spirit!
[Iron Tree Spirit: Lv.51, created at the start of the game, skilled in forging]
"Forging?" Lin Nanxing raised an eyebrow at the description, and couldn't help but think to himself that the setting of this apocalyptic game was really imaginative.
A plant that can forge iron? She simply couldn't imagine that scene.
Even if it becomes a spirit, the iron tree is still a plant. If I remember correctly, forging requires being near a fire source. How would it hold a hammer? With a branch?
The iron tree spirit, having just acquired its new identity, was clearly extremely excited.
The moment the barrier was no longer able to defend against it, it lunged at the man-eating flower lying on the ground, its dark branches whipping out like a whip.
With a crisp 'snap', the carnivorous plant reacted extremely quickly, bouncing several times on the ground before coming to a stop.
This sudden turn of events caused Shu Yi's eyes to turn cold. His movements of nocking the arrow and drawing the bow were fluid and graceful, and the whirring sound of the taut bowstring was particularly clear in the night.
Just as the arrow was about to leave the bowstring, Lin Nanxing's voice rang out in time: "Wait, Shu Yi, don't be impulsive!"
The arrowhead stopped abruptly just an inch away from the iron tree spirit, its tail feathers still trembling slightly.
Lin Nanxing breathed a sigh of relief. Shu Yi's movements were incredibly fast; she almost couldn't stop him in time.
Meeting Shu Yi's questioning gaze, Lin Nanxing quickly explained, "Don't be nervous. Da Tie is my summoned creature now. Without my command, it poses no threat."
She secretly rejoiced; if the arrow had hit its mark, the iron tree spirit, now shrunken, would likely have been seriously injured on the spot.
Shu Yi's brows remained furrowed, his eyes darting back and forth between the man-eating flower and the iron tree spirit, clearly saying: They're directly attacking their own comrades, isn't that a threat?
Lin Nanxing understood Shu Yi's look and said with a strange expression, "This should be a misunderstanding."
The iron tree spirit was also quite frightened by Shu Yi's actions. After Lin Nanxing comforted it, he walked towards the man-eating flower hiding in the corner, which was warily protecting itself with its petals. He put his hands on his hips and said, "Big Mouth, did you steal something from Big Iron? Confess."
The man-eating flower's petals trembled suspiciously, and under Lin Nanxing's stern gaze, it finally opened its mouth reluctantly. With a muffled 'clang,' metallic ore poured out like a waterfall, instantly piling up into a small mountain on the ground.
Lin Nanxing stared at the ores, and the more he looked at them, the more familiar they seemed.
The system pops up a timely notification: [Meteorite Iron, a rare forging material].
She then remembered that Big Mouth had indeed brought back a small piece of similar ore when he went out exploring before.
Sensing the anger emanating from the iron tree spirit, Lin Nanxing was both amused and exasperated. Big Mouth had wiped out all of the man's accumulated wealth over the years; no wonder he was being chased for miles.
She looked at the drooping carnivorous plant and found it somewhat amusing: "Big Mouth, you don't actually think I like minerals, do you?"
The carnivorous plant nodded.
The scene became somewhat awkward for a moment.
Although the man-eating flower caused trouble, its initial intention was to please her. Although the iron tree spirit was furious, it did not cause any actual harm.
Lin Nanxing was caught in a dilemma, so he squatted down and stacked the ore pieces one by one, then pushed them in front of the iron tree spirit, saying, "Returning the ore to its rightful owner."
She coughed lightly and abruptly changed the subject: "Um, the introduction says you know forging, could you show me?"
The cycad spirit nodded, intending to show itself off to its new master. To the astonishment of the two, it suddenly lifted the leaves at the top, revealing a hollow stump.
Inside, there was a cluster of flickering flames.
Looking at the Iron Tree Spirit's current form, Lin Nanxing suddenly thought of the Torchwood from Plants vs. Zombies. The only difference was that the Iron Tree Spirit's stump didn't have an angry human face on it.
The iron tree spirit was unaware of its new master's thoughts. It skillfully tossed the meteorite iron into the tree stump. The ore melted into liquid upon contact with the flames and then tumbled and shaped itself continuously.
Shu Yi was also observing from the side. He immediately recognized what they were making. "Meteorite Iron is used to make defensive weapons. They're making a heart shield."
This magical plant is truly remarkable; it can create weapons using only a few meteorites without requiring a high-temperature environment or additional materials.
Seeing that the iron tree spirit possessed such strength, Lin Nanxing immediately thought of a building in the mall.
Forging workshop.
Before it can be upgraded to a town, it still lacks a stable source of income, and forging weapons is a good option.
It was late at night, the crisis was over, and Lin Nanxing felt sleepy again. Knowing that the forging would take an hour, she had no intention of waiting any longer. After thanking Shu Yi, she took the freshly forged summoning plant home.
Peace returned outside the barrier. The curtains on the fourth floor of the apartment swayed slightly, and the woman's tense shoulders finally relaxed. The Star Territory was safer than she had imagined.
Just as the curtains were about to close, Shu Yi looked up as if sensing something, his gaze shooting like an arrow towards the dark window.
*
[Game date: November 15, 2011, 10:30 AM, Autumn, Sunny]
Sunlight streamed through the sheer curtains into the room, waking Li Ziqi from the warmth. She instinctively buried her face in the fluffy pillow and snuggled closer. The perfect coolness of the blankets made her so comfortable that her toes curled up.
The luxury of sleeping until you naturally wake up was a rare treat even before the apocalypse, let alone in this perilous game world.
As one of the earliest explorers to discover the Star Territory, Li Ziqi followed Captain Mao Qindong and formed an escort team from Yunpei Town to the Star Territory as soon as the territory appeared.
When we first started escorting people, we had to be on high alert. Now, with more people traveling between the two places and the roads being much safer, the same team of thirty people can now be safely escorted with just half the manpower.
Li Ziqi's team also adopted a rotation system.
Today was finally Li Ziqi's turn to rest. She stretched lazily, slowly got up to wash up, and the warm water flowed over her face, washing away the last trace of sleepiness.
"Mom, I'm here to help."
Pushing open the door of the milk tea shop, the wind chimes that had been hung up a few days ago made a crisp sound. Li Ziqi skillfully tied on her apron and began to help her mother greet the customers.
The milk tea shop is the busiest shop in Star Territory. Even after the establishment of Star Restaurant, the milk tea shop still has the most customers every day. A few days ago, the milk tea shop hired a new employee, but it is still a bit too busy.
So whenever Li Ziqi has free time, she comes over to help.
When it was lunchtime, Li Ziqi pushed her mother's wheelchair toward the Xingxing Hotel. The owner, Mr. Lin, was very thoughtful; all the buildings had walkways for disabled people.
The escort missions had been quite rewarding, and Li Ziqi's savings were growing steadily. As she passed the second floor, the aroma of a large pot of rice wafted over, but she didn't stop and headed straight for the third floor.
A few days ago, the territory hired another chef. I heard that he is an expert in making Northeastern Chinese cuisine, and she wants to bring her mother to try it.
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